Ever since man discovered fire he has realized the potential danger that fires constantly present, in addition to the obvious benefits that fires provide. Throughout history fires have been the cause of some of the most destructive and deadly catastrophes that have ever occurred. From the days of the Roman empire, when Mt. Vesuvius erupted and molten ash flowed into and over the city of Pompeii, destroying much of the city, to the great fire of San Francisco in the early 1900's, fire has been proven to be an indiscriminate and very capable destroyer.
Due to fire's constant danger, almost every city in the United States, and most developed countries, provide some sort of firefighting service. Larger cities have fully functioning fire departments, while smaller cities often recruit volunteers to serve as firefighters when the need arises. Also, many specialized tools and various equipment has been designed to assist in fighting fires. One example of this equipment are the specialized valves used to provide water to firemen when they are attempting to extinguish a blaze.
Previously, a few types of four way valves have been used to provide an effective means for fighting fires by permitting a hose to be quickly attached to a fire hydrant and then ultimately through a pumping apparatus. In the past this approach has been limited to a combination of butterfly valves and flapper or swinging check valves. This prior art has been complicated and difficult to understand and restricts flow by the very nature of the type of valve used. Various valves of the low pressure differential type have been developed and are in use to minimize the pressure drop through the valve such as large orifice ball valves and the like.
A search of the prior art did not disclose any patents that read directly on the claims of the instant invention, however the following U.S. patents are considered related:
______________________________________ U.S. PAT. NO. INVENTOR ISSUED ______________________________________ 5,464,064 Weingarten 7 November 1995 4,373,543 Brown, et al 15 February 1983 4,303,093 Swingler 1 December 1981 3,871,614 Hughes, et al 18 March 1975 3,648,970 Hartmann, et al 14 March 1972 2,836,197 Johnson 27 May 1958 1,937,597 Schmidt 5 December 1933 1,750,927 Diez 18 March ______________________________________ 1930
U.S. Pat. No. 5,464,064, titled Valve Particularly Useful in Fire Extinguishing Systems, invented by Zvi Weingarten, relates to a valve including a valve member having: a predetermined surface area on its inlet side exposed to the inlet pressure to produce a force for moving the valve member to an open position; a larger surface area on its opposite, control side exposed to the inlet pressure produces a larger force moving the valve member to a closed position; a passageway through the valve member; a restrictor orifice in the passageway; and a one-way valve in the passageway permits fluid flow only from the inlet side to the control side of the valve member, thus preventing unintentional opening of the valve member in the event of a drop in the inlet pressure followed by the resumption of the inlet pressure.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,373,543, titled Fire Resistant Seat for Flow Control Valve, invented by Robert J. Brown, et al discloses a flow control valve with a valve closure element provided having at least one annular resilient seat member and an annular flexible metal seat member positioned adjacent to it. The flexible metal seat is held in position by heat resistant gaskets biased against the resilient seat member. Upon the failure of the resilient seat to seal because of melting or deterioration caused by exposure to heat, the flexible metal seat member springs into position providing a fire and heat resistant metal-to-metal seal with the valve closure element.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,871,614, titled Four Way Hydrant Valve, issued to Robert T. Hughes, et al teaches a combined type of valve for controlling water to a fire hose utilizing a main valve chamber with a butterfly valve having an inlet and an outlet for 41/2 in ID fire hose. A separate conduit has an inlet and an outlet for 21/2 in ID hose with a intermediate opening communicating with the chamber upstream of the butterfly valve. A check valve closes the opening when the pressure at the inlet of the separate conduit exceeds the pressure in the main valve chamber. This prior art requires manual changeover after the pumper has been started therefore producing a higher pressure than available at the fire hydrant.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,648,970 of Hartmann, et al entitled Handle Assembly for a Rotatable Ball Valve discloses a handle assembly with a notched latch plate locking the handle to the housing as a detent element. The latch pin includes several notches for specific valve positions corresponding to selected valve settings.
Johnson's U.S. Pat. No. 2,836,197 titled Zone-Controlled Heating System utilizes a flat swinging valve member for diverting heating fluid to a specific portion of a heating system in a proportioned manner.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,937,597 issued to Schmidt titled, Valve, is for a diverting valve using exhaust gas as the fluid and an opposed pair of spring loaded swinging valve members controlling the flowpath.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,750,927 of Diez titled Fire Hose Connector Head teaches a manually operated valve that permits flow through a flapper valve to a firefighter's hose. When a pumper is connected to the valve, the flow may be directed to the pump and the higher pressure discharge stream is introduced to the back side of the flap valve maintaining closure as long as the pressure is higher on the pump side.
For background purposes and as indicative of the art to which the invention relates reference may be made to the patent issued to Swindler in U.S. Pat. No. 4,303,093.